1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fiber containing carbon and a method of manufacturing the same, and to an electronic device such as an electron emission device using a fiber containing carbon, a circuit board using a fiber containing carbon as a wiring, and a secondary battery (fuel cell) using a fiber containing carbon as its cathode material, and a method of manufacturing these. Also, the invention relates to an electron source prepared by disposing on a substrate a number of electron emission devices using a fiber containing carbon, and a method of manufacturing it, and to an image display apparatus, such as a flat display, using the electron source and, further, a lamp using an electron emission device and a method of manufacturing these. Also, the invention relates to an information displaying/playing apparatus, such as a flat television, which can display and play various kinds of informations or signals such as TV broadcasting signals, character broadcasting signals, satellite broadcasting signals, or cable TV broadcasting signals, and a method of manufacturing these.
2. Related Art
Attention has been drawn toward a field emission type (FE type) electron emission device that is designed in such a manner as to cause emission of electrons from the surface of a substance by utilizing the tunnel effect. In recent years, as the emitter material of the FE type electron emission device, attention has been drawn toward the one using a carbon fiber therefor, such as a carbon nano-tube, the diameter of which is of a nano-size.
As a method of manufacturing an electron emission device using a carbon fiber, there is disclosed in a Japanese official gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-043792 a method of manufacturing that electron emission device by adding a carbon fiber that is manufactured beforehand to a paste material, etc. and coating the resulting material onto a prescribed position to thereby locate the carbon fiber (hereinafter referred to as “the indirect location process”).
Also, there is disclosed in a Japanese official gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-057934 a method of locating a catalyst at a desired position on a relevant substrate and, thereafter, using a chemical vapor deposition (hereinafter referred to as “the CVD process”), causing a carbon fiber to be selectively grown in an area where the catalyst is located (hereinafter referred to as “the direct location process”.
Also, there is disclosed in “Shaping carbon nanostructures by controlling the synthesis process”, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 20 Aug. 2001, Volume 79, Number 8, P. 1178 to 1180 by Vladimir I. Merkulov and four others an attempt made to contrive the conditions under which a plasma CVD process is executed to thereby control the shape of the relevant carbon fibers.
Also, there is a disclosure, in the specification of European Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1245704, which concerns the Raman spectrum of a carbon fiber used in the electron emission device.